Method:The Library Director established a team to investigate institutional repository products. The team created a chart assigning weights to important criteria in order to evaluate various systems. In 2006 the Library purchased a license for ProQuest Digital Commons, a hosted system. As a manageable first project, the team focused on digitizing the 300 dissertations produced by one of the graduate schools. The intent was to populate the repository quickly, generate visibility, and gain support across the medical school. The team worked with the graduate school to develop a permissions form and a process to contact alumni. The Library Director decided to scan the dissertations in-house rather than outsource. The team made technical decisions about software and equipment for scanning and creating searchable text, using OCR technology, deciding what metadata to collect, and how to reuse data from the library’s OPAC.

Results:The project is currently well under budget. As of February 2007, more than 65% of the alumni contacted have given permission for their dissertations to be digitized. The 247 dissertations added to the repository have been downloaded more than 6300 times in just eight months. The project was profiled in the school’s internal newsletter, leading to increased visibility and interest. Another graduate school recently agreed to deposit their dissertations in the repository. Continued challenges include workflow, documenting policies and procedures, managing copyright issues, and creating a plan to market and promote the repository on campus.

Conclusion:The Library’s first digitization project has been successful due to library funding, support, and management; the skills of team members; the purchase of a hosted product; and the partnership with the graduate school. Future success will be indicated by continued funding, increased faculty and department participation, and greater campus awareness.

Presented at the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, on May 20, 2007.

Methodology (including study design, analysis, and evaluation): The UMass Medical School Women’s Faculty Committee (WFC) initiated a partnership with the medical library to compete successfully to host the traveling exhibition “Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians.” Concurrent with the 6-week exhibition, fifteen events brought local and nationally prominent women together for mentoring activities, an original dramatic production, and an awards luncheon for women faculty. Women featured in the exhibit as well as its Visiting Curator spoke at UMMS about their research and career challenges, read from their published works, and were featured at graduation and a regional medical society event.

Results: Application-writing and event planning sessions forged robust working relationships among top-ranking administrators, senior and junior faculty, and staff. The exhibition increased opportunities for administration, faculty, and students to understand the impact of women in medicine, their leadership potential, and historical contributions. It also generated new mentor/mentee relationships and grant-writing collaborations. The exhibition’s national recognition helped draw a larger, more diverse and gender-balanced audience (575+ people) to the events enhancing the visibility of the WFC, as evidenced by institutional funding for women faculty to attend the AAMC WIM professional development workshops and ELAM for the first time.

Conclusion(s): Creative partnerships, motivated by the opportunity to host “Changing the Face of Medicine,” produced greater than expected gains for women faculty, generating new awareness and understanding of women’s accomplishments and leadership potential. This partnership allowed for a wide range of multi-disciplinary efforts, strengthening networking across silos, and advancing the goals of women in an academic medical center.

Presented October 29, 2006 at AAMC 2006 Annaul Meeting, Seattle, WA.

Presented November 6, 2006, at Scanning Forum 2006 meeting, Charlottesville, VA.

Setting/Participants/Resources: The Lamar Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts is a mid-sized, academic health sciences library. The library holds a small collection of original research in genetics and reproductive studies carried out by Gregory Pincus, Sc.D., in the mid-twentieth century. The Library Systems Department and Technical Services Department worked together to obtain funding to digitize the special collection.

Brief Description: The library received funding that would allow archival material to be scanned using an outside vendor. After interviewing a number of state contractors, the library realized it would need to write a request for proposal (RFP) and bid the work to handle unique materials. At the same time, the library partnered with two other libraries in the state university system to obtain university funding that would pay salaries for a graphic editor and cataloger to process the digitized collection. In deciding how to store the images for search and retrieval, the library looked at other imaging projects already in progress in the university and chose to use the same software, Cumulus. This poster will cover the issues of defining the scope of the project, obtaining funding, choosing scanning options and formats, deciding whether to enhance images or note or to use watermarking options, dealing with cataloging and indexing issues, and evaluating the options for presenting a digital collection to the public.

Results/Outcomes: Six hundred slides have been scanned, enhanced, watermarked, cataloged, and indexed. By using Cumulus software, the collection was made available for faculty and student use.

Evaluation Method: Comments from faculty and students were gathered to determine if digitizing special collection is worth the cost and effort associated with such projects.

Presented at the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting, Dallas, TX, May 19, 2002.

Methods: A Web-based exhibit highlighting Soutter’s life was devel­oped recently by a team of librarians. By making extensive local and national contacts, we were able to assemble a chronology of life events for Soutter. Our research has revealed that throughout his life, Soutter has overcome several distinct personal and professional challenges. Significant contributions to medicine and its practice have been the result, including the establishment of a blood bank and the creation of a new state medical school. Other events include a research expedition through uncharted territory in the Yukon, during which he and a com­panion nearly lost their lives, and his gallant service in World War II as a field surgeon behind enemy lines during the Battle of the Bulge.

Results: The Lamar Soutter Website exhibit is available at library.umassmed.edu/soutter/.

Conclusions: Soutter overcame personal and professional adversity to achieve distinction as a scientist, physician, educator, and humanitar­ian.

Presented at: The Medical Library Association's annual meeting, May 2005.

OBJECTIVES:

On completion of this session, the participant should be able to:

Understand the development process for a point of care patient information service.

Recognize the value of collaboration between clinicians and professional medical librarians in enhancing patient education.

Appreciate the role of parents of the clinic population as part of the Library staff.

Setting: Parents and families who use the Children's Medical Center will have the opportunity to attend a basic Internet class and then a class to locate quality health information. The classes will be held over a one-year period in the library's new computer instruction facilities.

Methodology: Two classes per quarter will be scheduled--one on Internet Basics and one on finding and evaluating health information on the Internet. Child care and free parking will be provided. The project will also provide customized classes for parent groups and community agencies that serve children. Multiple classes are scheduled for the pediatric clinic staff to find quality health information.

Description: A multiple-pronged approach will be used to publicize the classes and services provided by the Pediatric Library. Classes will be didactic and hands on--taught by experienced librarians.

Results: The addition of classes will increase awareness and use of the Children's Medical Center Pediatric Library and offer support and networking opportunities for the parents. This project started on October 1, 2002, and results from the classes are anticipated for MLA '03.

Discussion: Parents are making health care decisions about their children every day and need to be empowered and confident with their skills to find quality health information. Many of the children who are cared for at the Children's Medical Center have lifelong and complicated health problems. Many of these parents have become knowledgeable about how to access the Internet but may lack the critical skills necessary to evaluate the quality of the health information they find. This project will attempt to meet this need.

Evaluation: At the end of each class session, the parents will complete an evaluation form.

METHODS: The didactic and experimental curriculum was developed with a strict interpretation of search strategies and EBM philosophy and rationale. In 1999, the class contained a detailed component on epidemiology and statistical interpretation of the four clinical study categories (etiology, diagnosis, therapy and prognosis). Following each session, student evaluations were solicited and changes were made to the curriculum based on student feedback and follow-up faculty discussion. Today, a more treatment-centered ethics-based curriculum is taught. While Evidence-Based vocabulary and some statistics such as Absolute Risk and Number Needed to Treat and Harm are included, emphasis is now placed on teaching students to look for good evidence and to use these findings within an effective patient interaction. Collected student evaluations from across the five-year time span will be analyzed to demonstrate the evolutionary steps of the curriculum.

RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS: “More time for searching!” This is always a top comment on student evaluations. Ways to make this happen are consistently being identified and put into practice. As class time is limited, what is taught and how it is taught has become very selective. One recently incorporated tool is the use of a pre-session WebCT-based orientation. Material is always being added within this format to free up class time for more interactive practice. Two other practical content areas that have recently been introduced into the course are a) talking with patients about relative risk and b) understanding bias in the medical literature. The very simple evaluation form remains a device with which to collect further student feedback. The course will continue to be updated as EBM methodologies and outlooks within the medical community change and grow.

Under contract with NLM, Regional Medical Libraries continue their efforts strengthen the Network to reach under served health professionals in rural and inner city areas, public health professionals, and special populations. NN/LM members work with a variety of intermediaries, including health care providers, public health professionals, public librarians, educators, community organizations, health advocacy groups, faith-based organizations, and self-help groups, to reach members of the public.

The Regional Medical Library for the New England Region is the Lamar Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts. The New England Region of 516 members includes 16 Resource Libraries, over 360 hospital and academic libraries, and over 100 public libraries.

Methods: After compiling and sorting print and online usage statistics gathered over an eighteen-month period, low-use titles were identified for possible cancellation in order to meet the revised budget guidelines. A spreadsheet was prepared including information concerning annual subscription/ licensing costs, publisher, publication frequency, appearance on core titles lists, availability via databases, inclusion in aggregation packages, subscription requirements for electronic packages, availability in nearby affiliate institutions, and usage and cost-per-use statistics. The list was refined over several months, and distributed to the faculty for input. The director of library services attended various committee meetings to answer questions and gather feedback. A final list of titles, with total projected cost savings, was compiled. There were elements of both "art" and "science" in this process.

Results: The results of this process were unexpected. The faculty had been involved in the process, and understood the ramifications of massive journal cuts. As a group, the faculty Council protested to the School Administration about the planned cuts--and the administration gave the needed funds to the library to pay for the journals slated to be cut.

Conclusions: Although a "happy ending" is not always possible, a carefully planned review process, utilizing as much hard data as possible, and keeping the users informed at each stage, can benefit the library as it seeks to provide quality resources in support of the school's mission.

Setting/Participants/Resources: The UMass Memorial Health Care system has thirteen affiliate hospitals. Each hospital was invited to participate in this program which offered a computer workstation, software and training, and support. Seven of the hospitals elected to participate.

Poster information will include:
Overview and evaluation of the project goals and objectives.
A presentation describing the planning and implementation of project.
A summary of the training methods used to educate representatives from the seven affiliate hospitals.
Sample screen shots of the newly expanded OPAC.
Statistics reporting the number of records entered to date and usage statistics.

Outcomes/Evaluation: All seven participating libraries have successfully setup the computer workstations, attended training, and started adding holding records to the OPAC. Data and comments from the participating libraries will be used to judge the effectiveness of this program and determine if other modules will be offered to the participating libraries, such as serial check in and circulation.

Presented at the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, May 20, 2001.

Setting/Participants/Resources: The library is a mid-size academic health sciences library. The library occupies 41,000 square feet within the medical school and employs forty-one full time employees. The library has been using a team-based approach to operational problem solving since 1989.

Brief Description: By the mid-’90s, the library was in desperate need of a face-lift and updating to accommodate the current advances in technology. In 1998, the first team was formed to look at the condition of the library and recommend both short term and long-term improvements. Four years and six teams later, the library has undergone a complete renovation with new furniture, paint, and carpet and an improved layout that accommodates the electronic access needs of our patrons.

Results/Outcome: Having staff members from every department involved in all of the various teams allowed each department’s specific needs to be considered during each step of the project. Involving library staff in the decision-making process resulted in staff buy-in to the project and has given staff a sense of ownership for the “new” library.

Evaluation: The library renovation was successful on two levels; it improved the physical space by providing patrons with more seating options, better lighting, and increased accessibility to the library’s collection and resources. The renovation also provided staff with work areas that are centralized by department and a more open work environment that is conducive to collaboration. The renovation was also successful because the team-based approach to its management made faculty, staff, and students feel like they were included in the decision-making process throughout the project. This feeling is reflected in the new sense of pride in the library and interest in its upkeep shown by all faculty, staff, and students.

Presented at the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, May 4, 2003.

Method: In summer 2003 the Library initiated a Continuous Process Improvement project. The project’s goal is to reduce time and/or save money by examining and improving work processes. The charge for the Technical Services team is to (1) reduce the turnaround time by 50% or more for firm orders from when the book is ordered to when it reaches the requestor; (2) reduce the time it takes by 50% or more to implement a serials title change, which involves staff throughout the library; and (3) reduce the time it takes by 50% or more for a newly-received journal issue to reach the shelf and eventually be bound. The team is utilizing value-added flow analysis to examine the processes and will make recommendations to management for changes to be implemented in a pilot project.

Results: The Team met weekly over four months to identify the specific steps involved in each process, review the time involved in completing each task, analyze whether or not the step added value, and suggest improvements to the process. Team members documented and timed current workflow in spreadsheets and flowcharts. The Team proposed a number of procedural changes and initiatives that were accepted by library management for a five-month pilot project which is now ongoing. Important components of the implementation are establishing procedures for better communication and additional staff training.

Conclusion: Value-added flow analysis is a useful tool for continuous process improvement. The Library’s goal of reducing turnaround time by 50% or more for these three specific processes will be achieved, as demonstrated in the pilot project. Technical Services will be better able to serve its internal and external customers.

Presented at the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, on May 25, 2004.

Methods: A project team worked to identify the extent of the shelving crisis. Inventorying, estimating, and extrapolating were the primary tools used to determine that the library would run out of space in the main journal collection in early 2004. An offsite storage facility was identified for library use and all costs associated with transforming the space into a viable storage solution were identified. The team also evaluated the current shelving layout in the library and developed a plan to add additional shelving in stages. Finally, the costs associated with improving and maximizing the library’s current remote storage location were calculated. This included improved safety, cleaning, painting, and compact shelving. The costs and service ramifications of each solution were compared, along with logistics of moving and merging a portion of the collection.

Results: After careful evaluation, library management determined that improving the current remote storage was cost effective and provided the best option for access and service. Working from our data, we calculated the number of volumes that the storage facility would hold. The project was divided into three phases. The first phase included physically preparing the storage space, installing a third of the compact shelving, writing, and testing move/merge procedures, as well as hiring temporary employees to complete the actual merge. Phases two and three called for additional compact shelving to be installed.

Conclusion: Moving and merging of a collection requires careful plan¬ning, detailed data analysis, and hard physical work. Ideally, you will only do this once. In our case, we knew this option would only be a temporary solution to our space crisis that will take us through the year 2012, at which time we hope to have a new library building with com¬pact shelving throughout.

Presented at the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, May 17, 2005.

Methods: Dr. Samuel B. Woodward brought a significant paradigm shift to the dark world of mentally ill indigent citizens of Massachusetts in the early 19th century. When Dr. Woodward became the first superintendent of Worcester State Hospital in 1833, mentally ill patients were viewed with suspicion and fear and were usually relegated to prisons and poorhouses. Woodward rejected a supernatural explanation of mental illness that was very popular at that time. He believed mental illness was a somatic disease, not unlike other diseases. His approach, called “moral therapy,” consisted of kind, compassionate, individualized care that respected the patient as a human being. Dr. Woodward was also instrumental in the burgeoning field of psychiatry. He was a prolific writer and became the first president of the organization that would later become the American Psychiatric Association.

Presented at the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, on May 17, 2005.

Methods: Case study: Since the arrival of a new Director in 1998, much of the work of the Library is accomplished through cross-functional teams. Technical services librarians have contributed significantly to these teams and to campus-wide task forces. For a project to create a database of medical images, library catalogers performed crucial roles in developing a database and record structure, maintaining quality control, writing documentation, and training faculty members. This team is now collaborating with Academic Computing staff to develop an institutional repository. Within the Library, a cataloger joined an access services team charged with examining the problem of unreturned books, enhancing the team with skills in integrated library systems, problem solving, and report writing. Recognizing the importance of open access, a technical services librarian organized a well-attended forum and display for the campus and the public.

Results: The positive impact of technical services outreach included new and enhanced services and products, professional satisfaction, improved communication among staff, and better access to library materials. Technical services librarians are better known to the larger campus community. Staff development, collaboration, and outreach were enhanced by a Library renovation that kept the Technical Services department in close proximity to public services areas and the Library training room. In the Library there is now a true partnership with public services staff, and an increased appreciation for the skill set of technical services librarians.

Conclusions: Technical Services librarians should not hesitate to break out of the back room and participate in outreach activities. Their skills can be of tremendous value to cross-departmental library teams and broader efforts. This outreach benefits the librarians, the Library, and the user community.

Presented at the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, on May 15, 2005.

Method:Case study: The library has marketed the idea of an image database for the past four years. In early 2003, the project was funded and a campuswide task force was formed. The library took the lead in project management by holding weekly and monthly meetings, establishing milestones, setting deadlines, and drafting usage policies. The library played an important role by interviewing potential contributors and developing a database and record structure that meets the needs of users. The library also participates in the cataloging of images by designing workflow procedures that allow library staff to check all images for quality control and to assign MeSH terms. Task force members developed a training session on how to search the database and how to contribute images.

Results: A campuswide database of over 150 digital assets (and growing) has been created. The weekly and monthly meetings helped to keep project assignments clear and document changes to roles and responsibilities. Setting deadlines and establishing milestones helped to keep the project on schedule and progressing forward. The database structure and record format first developed by the team is meeting the needs of participants, but the library anticipates making adjustments as the database becomes more popular. Having MeSH terms assigned to each digital asset has improved searching for database users. To date, seven faculty members have been trained and are contributing to the database.

Conclusions: The library has a valuable role to play in campuswide digital initiatives. Collaborating with information services has allowed both departments to gain a greater appreciation of the skills and resources that each department has to offer and provided the library with greater visibility and new opportunities for outreach and education.

Presented at the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, May 23, 2004.

1) How have advances in web technologies influenced the “look and feel” of the web site?

2) What other developments contributed to the evolution of medical library web sites?

3) How has the librarian's role in web development changed in the last ten years?

Method: Reviewing the history of the web and developments in new technology, we will note significant turning points in the design of our own library web site and that of other institutions of a similar size and mission. Using data and images from the Way Back Machine at www.archive.org we will plot how changes in technology effect: what information is presented, page layout and usability. We will examine how changes in librarianship and the “information explosion” have helped the medical library web site progress.

Results: From examining our own web site history we have determined that we were slow to implement new design technologies. Many of the technologies that were initially incorporated into the web page design improved on graphical elements at first. Improvements on layout, searching and form design soon followed. In 2000 a new underlining database structure (Cold Fusion) was added to the web site that allowed staff to better manage the large number of e-resources the Library provided. Once a full time position dedicated to web management was created our web site was able to focus on layout and usability.

Conclusion: From looking at other web sites of similar size we have determined that many Libraries web sites progressed first as an “online directory” providing basic information, to a page that started to offer services such as request forms and links to an OPAC and/or Medline, to finally a dynamic page with electronic books, journals and databases. Many institutions offer customized pages for individual users. Additional research is recommended.

Setting/Resources: The Lamar Soutter Library, University of Massachusetts - Worcester is an academic health sciences library located in a thirty-year-old building. With funds from the President’s Office the Library was able to implement a wireless network to support laptop computing in the Library.

Brief Description: Phase I of this project is completed. Activities included selection and purchase of hardware, installation of network, development of policies and procedures, and training. The Circulation Department manages loaning, storage and maintenance, and the Reference Department provides training and support. Staff monitors usage and identifies policies and procedures that require change.

Results/Outcomes: Laptops are available for checkout to students within the Library. The wireless network has increased the total number of devices from 59 to 84 without impacting the building’s structure.

Evaluation Methods: Usage statistics and anecdotes provide library staff with positive feedback.

Presented at the Medical Library Association and the Canadian Health Libraries Association / Association des bibliothèques de la santé du Canada (CHLA/ABSC), HLA 2000 May 5-11, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Section Title: Growth and Harmony, Part 1: Innovative Solutions to Networking Issues.